In Search of Glory

“What have I told you since the first day you stepped into my office? There are three ways to make a living in this business. Be First. Be Smarter. Or Cheat.Now, I don’t cheat. And although I like to think we have some pretty smart people in this building, it sure is a hell of a lot easier to be first!” — John Tuld | Margin Call 2011

Margin Call (based on a true story)is about the market crash of 2008 and how a firm reacted to finding out about the upcoming demise. For whatever reason, this quote stuck with me — and eventually, it helped me come up with my own three ways of “making a living in this business”.

There are 3 ways to make money You can steal (but I’m not a fan of stealing), you can cheat (which takes the fun out of the game in the first place), or you can create value for others and interchange it for money. Then the race to the top becomes — who can create more value than everyone else? And just like that, we can give reason to our drive for wealth.

Some of you will believe this is just a crude justification for greed. Your opinion is valid. I would be lying if I said I’m only looking to get rich to help others. I want the nice clothes, and the fast cars, and everything else that DiCaprio had in the Wolf of Wall Street. But I am writing this for those who can also see this for what it is: An economically sustainable way to make the world a better place. The more money you make by solving societal problems, the more you can invest in solving bigger societal problems.